Wire ball-and-socket fastener.



I0 MODEL.

PATENTBD JUNE 30, 1903.

J. D. STIRGKLER.

WIRE BALL AND SOCKET FASTENER. APPLIOATION rum) AUG. 15, 1902.

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UNITED STATES Patented June 30, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN D. STIROKLER, OF EAST BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO WIRE BALL FASTENER COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

WIRE BALL-AND-SOCKET FASTENEF...

SPEGIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 732,461, dated June 30, 1903. Application filed August 15, 1902. Serial No. 119,756. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN D. STIROKLER, of East Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Wire Ball-and- Socket Fasteners, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to snap-fasteners; and its object is to provide an article of this kind made of wire in such manner that it may be easily and cheaply manufactured and willbe efiective in its action and possess a high degree of durability.

The invention consistsin the novel features of construction and arrangement, which I shall now proceed to describe and claim.

Of the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a top plan view of the socket member of a snap-fastener constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 represents a side elevation thereof. Figs. 3 and 4 represent sections on the line 3 4 of Fig. 1 looking in opposite directions. Fig. 5 represents a top plan view of the head member of the fastenor. Fig. 6 represents a side elevation thereof. Fig. 7 represents an end elevation thereof. Fig. 8 represents a plan view showing the two members in engagement. Fig. 9 represents a longitudinal section of said members. Fig. 10 represents a top plan View showing a modified form of socket member. Fig. 11 represents a topplan view showing a modified form of head member.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the figures.

In Figs. 1 to 4, inclusive, is shown a socket member 10, composed of a single piece of wire bent to form four eyes or loops 11 12 13 on its four corners for the purpose of securing the socket member by stitches or otherwise to the article of apparel or other base upon which it is mounted. The two upper eyes 11 may each be formed of a single coil or convolution, as shown, and likewise the eye 12, which is formed by one end portion of the length of wire and may be left incompletely closed, as shown. The eye 13 is preferably formed of two convolutions or coils of sufficient resiliency to act as a spring and is continued crosswise across the two side bars 14 14 in the form of a springarm or bar 15,

terminated by a hook 16, which forms the other end of the length of Wire and is passed through the eye 12. The opposite cross-bar 17 makes the fourth side of a socket of general polygonal form of which the side is yielding.

18 represents the head member of the fastener shown separately in Figs. 5 to 7 and composed of a single pieoeof wire bent to form at its ends two eyes 19 19 and in the middle of its length a loop or eye 20 for receiving the attaching-threads or other fasteners. Between said eyes 19 20 is the head composed of two equal-sized parallel coils or convolutions 21, whose planes are located at right angles to that of the eyes 19 20. The coils 21 21 are of such a size as to fit the socket in the member 10, as represented in Fig. 9, the entrance and Withdrawal of said head being permitted by the yielding of the arm 15, said head being retained in the socket by the lodgment of the bars 15 17 against the contracted part or neck formed Where the coils 21 join the base portion of the head member, which is constituted by those portions thereof in the plane at right angles to the coils 21. As the coils 21 reside edgewise against the bars 15 17 and because of the general polygonal outline of the head of member 15 and the socket of member 10, the two members 10 and 18 are prevented from twisting relatively to each other. Stated in other words, the head member has bars formed by the sides of the coils 21 and constituting bearing-points, so located that the structure formed by straight lines joining said points in a plane transverse to the direction of insertion of the head in the socket is of general polygonal outline, while the socket member is of complemental form to prevent relative twisting of the members.

Fig. 10 shows a modified form of socket memberin which the general polygonal form of the socket is retained, and I have designated the parallel spring-arm and cross-bar by the numerals 15 and 17 and the side bars by 14 14. The lower ends of the bars 14 are turned up into loops 22 22, whose outer sides are continued upwardly and form on the one side an eye 12, occupied by'the hook 16 of arm 15, and on the other side an eye 13, forming a helical spring similar to the similarly-designated spring of the foregoing construction.

Fig. 11 shows a modified form of head member in which the ends of the wire-are prevented from spreading by interlocking the eyes 19 19.

Various other modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention.

The yielding of the coils 21 21 toward each other in a plane transverse to their planes permits the head to be more easily inserted in and withdrawn from the socket in a slanting direction than it could be without such relative yielding.

I prefer to make the coils 521, composing the head, approximately elliptical, as shown in Fig. 9, the curves of the coils intersected by the major axis of the ellipse being thus caused to project eifectively under the socketarms 15 17, and thus insure a sufficiently firm engagement of the coils with the crossbars.

The described fastener is intended particularly as a substitute for ordinary garment hooks and eyes and has the advantage over the latter of permitting quick engagement and separation of the parts of the garment bearing the fastener members by a movement of the outer part in a direction substantially at right angles with the plane of the inner part instead of requiring a movement of the outer part in a direction parallel with the plane of the inner part, as is necessary in the use of ordinary hooks and eyes. When the members of my improved fastener are connected, they cannot be separated by a movement of the outer part in a direction parallel with the plane of the inner part. Hence there is no liability of disconnecting the members of any fastener by the movement involved in connecting the members of an adjacent fas tener, this being a liability which exists when ordinary hooks and eyes are employed.

Inasmuch as the parts or members of my improved fastener are made wholly of .wire and constitute-in wire an effective substitute for the usual ball-and-socket fasteners made from sheet metal and solid metal, I deem it proper to term my device a wire ball-andsocket fastener.

I do not herein claim a snap-fastener comprising a member formed of wire and having a head composed of two bends or convolutions of the wire arranged side by side and adapted to yield relatively to each other and a complemental socket member formed to embrace said head, because the same forms the subject-matter of my application filed January 15, 1903, Serial No. 139,132.

I claim-- 1. A snap fastener comprising a socket member formed with a socket having two substantially parallel sides, and a head member havingahead composed ofapluralityofequalsized parallel coils of wire arranged side by side and adapted to bear against the sides of said socket when in the socket.

2. A snap-fastener comprising socket and head members made of wire suitably bent, each having means whereby it may be attached to a garment, the engaging portions of each of the members presenting a polygonal. outline to prevent relative twisting or rotation of the members when engaged.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN D. STIRCKLER. 

